A Saturday Drive - Part Two

Mel and I had the map inside the Burger King so we could check it out and figure out how many miles we really had left to drive. Uh oh - way more than we thought we'd had! I silently hoped that the train Kara, John and Stirling were on would get sidetracked and delayed for a couple hours... That's not very nice, is it?!

We wolfed down our dinner and headed back out to the car. By then it was dusk and getting dark quickly. We started south again. We drove - and drove - and drove and finally - there was a sign that said 'Nottingham - X' [number of miles] (they still use miles instead of kilometers in Great Britain, as well as Pounds instead of Euros but they've changed to Centigrade and liters instead of Fahrenheit and pints - somehow it's just not the same asking for a half liter in the pub instead of a pint...so sad how Europe and the EU is taking over the world...ha ha...keep on keeping your miles and Pounds, GB!)

I opened up our handy-dandy map to the page that had a city map of Nottingham and searched for the train station. Found it just a block or two from the bus station. Found the route we were taking, checked all the street names and thought to myself, "piece of cake!"

Soon we started seeing signs for Sherwood Forest. I looked around in the dim light of the headlights but couldn't see any guys in tights or cassocks running around stealing from the rich to give to the poor anywhere. I had visions of dancing men with pointy hats that had feathers sticking out of them (but just couldn't seem to see any big green ogres anywhere either - I think I've watched Shrek too many times). Kevin Costner was also nowhere to be seen. Just miles and miles of forest on both sides of the highway, with signs announcing "Sherwood Forest Estates! A Planned Community Coming Soon" "Sherwood Forest Country Park" and "Sherwood Forest Holiday Village just ahead." I wondered if there was any chance of seeing the Sheriff of Nottingham in Nottingham after missing Robin Hood in the forest....

The cell phone rang. It was Kara asking, "Where are you guys? We've been here for a long time already! There is no food around here and we haven't had dinner." "Well dear, we are on our way and we'll be there as soon as we can."

We came into Nottingham just as we had planned. Down the A to a roundabout and ... uh oh, where are the street name signs? That was the beginning of almost two hours of driving around Nottingham in the dark, desperately seeking a road sign or a sign with the funny little train insignia on it. We drove up this street and down that street, seeking and searching. Wow - there were a LOT of people out! We made it into the center of town, I finally saw a train sign and the cell phone rang again. "Where are you guys at?" "Well dear, we are driving around Nottingham, desperately searching for the train station, but we can't seem to find it anywhere." "Oh. Let me look at the map here on the wall. By the way we walked down the street and found some food. And there is a city gate nearby called Fletcher Gate (important only because our former doctor's name was Dr. Fletcher), look for that." "Ok dear. The phone is almost out of minutes, we'll call you as soon as we find the train station." "Well, we are just standing here waiting and waiting." Silently, to myself only - yes dear, and we are just driving around looking and looking. sigh.

Finally, after driving up one street twice we turned into a side street that obviously was never going to have a bus station or a train station anywhere near it - maybe a bus stop, but not a train station. There, walking down the sidewalk toward us was a Muslim man, dressed in a white robe with a round hat on his head. I said to Mel, "ask that guy where the train station is."

Mel stopped, rolled down the window and said, "Excuse me, sir, could you tell us where the train station is?" The man kind of snorted, as if to say 'are you kidding me? are you for real?' About that time, a car came down the street toward us and since the road was only one point five lanes wide with cars parked on one side on the sidewalk, the man walked behind our car while the oncoming car squeezed by us.

I think the man saw the big rental sticker on the back window because when he came back to Mel's window, he was very nice and polite. He told us, in a nice British Arabic accent, to go back down this street to that street, turn left, go 3 stop lights and turn at the next one, follow the signs and you will see the train station. Wow! Thank you!

Mel rolled up his window and started to drive to the end of the street so we could turn around. There was no end of the street to turn around at - just a wall. Where have we had this experience before today? Hmmm? At least in Berwick-upon-Tweed we were not trying to turn around on a very steep hill! No place to turn around, so Mel backed down the hill to a place where there were no cars parked and did a very careful 5 point turn around. I was actually holding my breath at one point, praying we wouldn't hit any of the nearby parked cars.

We drove back down to the main street, turned left, drove 3 stoplights and turned right - into an immediate dead end. In the dark. Mel turned around, drove out and turned up the wrong side of the road - the right side, into oncoming traffic. Fortunately, the oncoming traffic slowed down and we made one of those Saturday morning cartoon lane changes. No whip lash, fortunately. We drove to the next stop light, just as the man had told us - and voila! A sign for the train station!

We followed those wonderful signs that didn't disappear on us like the first ones had and turned into the parking lot. Lots of construction, but there was a train sitting right there in front of us at one of the platforms. Yea!

Mel called Kara on the cell and told her we were there. She said, "Where are you? We can't see you." I took the phone and started telling her what I could see from where we were parked - she couldn't see any of that from where they were standing outside the train station. I started getting a little upset. Good grief! There can only be ONE train station in this silly town!!! Finally Mel went inside to look for them. About 10 minutes later, Kara, John and Stirling walked up to the car and asked me where Dad was. Well, he's in there - I pointed - looking for YOU! About five minutes later he came out and we had a joyful, yet tired, happy reunion.

Now came the fun part - getting them all inside the car. I did not offer to sit in back like I usually did. I did not, at that point, want to carry 4 or 5 bags of whatever on my lap all the way out of Nottingham, up the M to another A to Alfreton. John did not ask - he just climbed in behind me, arranged bags here and there, Kara got Stirling settled in his car seat, crawled in beside him and arranged 3 or 4 bags on her lap and away we went. You know - Volkswagen Golfs are fairly roomy....

We started out of Nottingham. We drove and drove and drove - I think the town just follows the main road for several miles. Maybe if we were to go back in the daylight it wouldn't seem so long. Maybe if we weren't so tired. It sure seemed to me that there were a lot of people out on the streets.

We got to the hotel finally. The next day, and the last place we stayed, Mel and I were listening to the news and heard a report on how the government is trying to get funding to deal with the violence that is happening in 4 cities in England - Nottingham being one of them. I'm not sure what the cause is, but I thought back to all the people on the streets that night. No violence that we could see anywhere, but there were a lot of people out - more than I am used to seeing anywhere.

I thought back to the man we stopped. We have no idea who he was. We have no idea what ethnic neighborhood we were in, but he gives us a possible clue. I think of all the wandering around we did in the dark. I think of Kara and John and Stirling waiting at the train station a few hours for us, in a not very safe part of town. And I thank God that He kept us safe that night. So many 'what ifs' have gone through my mind. What if that man was actually a hater of Americans but God changed his mind and attitude at that moment so he would help us (or maybe he was neutral to start with - we'll never know). All I do know is that I thank Him that he got us to the train station and then to our hotel safe and sound that night.

I have very little desire to go back and see Nottingham in the daylight. Although Svyeta, one of the women in the Ladies Bible Study here in Kherson, has a daughter who is married to an Englishman and they live in Nottingham.

And I never did see the sheriff, either... Bummer.